1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to printers, and more particularly, to a low profile printer integrated within a digital set-top box.
2. Related Art
Set-top boxes such as cable television boxes, Internet terminal boxes etc. are increasingly being used with consumer home entertainment equipment such as television sets. For example, most xe2x80x9cpay forxe2x80x9d broadcast services that use television interaction, such as cable television services and Internet access services via the television, require their users to have some type of set-top box. Note that the term xe2x80x9cbroadcast servicesxe2x80x9d refers to signals being transmitted over analog telephone lines, coaxial cable lines, fiber optic lines, satellites and the like.
The set-top box typically allows the user to select between channels, perform programming functions, etc. Also, for efficient broadcast transmission and, in some cases, to ensure that only paying customers are using these services, the broadcast signals are usually scrambled or encoded before being transmitted and the set-top box decodes the signals. Consequently, television set-top boxes are becoming an integral part of home entertainment equipment.
There are many instances when a user may want a hardcopy of the information displayed on the screen of their television set. For example, a user may want to print e-mail messages, maps, recipes and information-rich content, such as still or captured scenes from a live broadcast, digital video disk (DVD) players, movie cameras, video recorders etc.
Currently, conventional printers are manually connected to the set-top box when users desire hard copies of the information displayed on the screen of their television sets. However, most conventional printers are bulky, and thus require large amounts of space in users"" home entertainment units. Also, expensive and additional cables are required to connect the printer to the set-top box. Further, most conventional printers are not aesthetically appealing like entertainment equipment. This is because most printers are not designed to be used with an entertainment center, but are instead designed to be used with other office equipment. As such, most printers do not match well with other home entertainment equipment.
Thus, what is needed is a set-top box with an integrated low-height printer that will save space in home entertainment units. What is also needed is a printer that will blend in with ordinary home entertainment equipment and will not require the use of exposed and expensive printer cables.
To overcome the limitations of the systems: and methods described above, and to overcome other limitations that will become apparent upon reading and understanding the present specification, the present invention is embodied in a set-top box having an integrated printer. The printer is preferably a low-height printer and includes front and back portions, an input tray for storing input media sheets, an output area for holding output media sheets and a printhead for printing information on the media sheets. The printhead prints information on the media by sequentially scanning the printhead across the media as the media is advanced toward the output area (each scan is commonly referred to as a swath). The printer preferably accepts any standard media, such as 8.5xc3x9711 inch (letter size), 8.5xc3x9714 inch (legal size), A4, A5, etc papers.
In one embodiment, the paper is stored in the input tray in a portrait orientation so that the shortest dimension of the paper exists from the front to the back of the printer. For example, for 8.5xc3x9711 inch paper, the 8.5 inch dimension would exist from the front to the back of the printer and the 11 inch dimension would exist from one side to the other side of the printer. The paper is advanced to the output area in a portrait orientation. Thus, the printhead scans from the front to the back of the printer and each swath is printed across the shortest dimension of the paper.
In another embodiment, the paper is stored in the input tray in a landscape orientation so that the longest dimension of the paper exists from the front to the back of the printer. For example, for 8.5xc3x9711 inch paper, the 11 inch dimension would exist from the front to the back of the printer and the 8.5 inch dimension would exist from one side to the other side of the printer. The paper is advanced to the output area in a landscape orientation. Thus, the printhead scans from the front to the back of the printer and each swath is printed across the longest dimension of the paper.
As a result, in both embodiments, the printhead moves from the front to the back of the box when scanning and printing on the media sheets. Further, to reduce the side to side width of the low-height printer, the output media sheets are held in the output area in a semi-curled position. Unlike some conventional inkjet printers that use a U-shaped path, the present printer uses a straight through path from the input tray to the output holding area. This allows the height of the set-top box to be kept to a minimum.